BusinessMirror December 11, 2022

ACCIDENTAL TENANTS

By Manuel T. Cayon

IN Punta Dumalag in Davao City is a narrow strip of land jutting out into the sea, now secluded and guarded to secure a refuge for the wildlife. More popular for the steady stream of turtles nesting in the area since 2014, recent wildlife activity has also pointed at the increasing number of birds, endemic and endangered, rare and fabulous, which are observed to have carved a niche in the area.

Only recently did birdwatchers record more than 100 bird species on refuge at the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park in Punta Dumalag in this city, adding another ecological reputation of its not only being a nesting site for turtles.

An eight-hectare ecological preserve was once a grassland but has now become a haven for birds,”

the Aboitiz-owned Davao Light and Power Co. said in a statement, after hosting birdwatchers to its protected ecological sanctuary.

W hen a team of birdwatchers, including England-born birdwatcher Pete Simpson, visited the park in 2016, they documented 25 bird species at the park, the Davao Light said.

A t that time, the Pinknecked Green Pigeon ( Treron vernans) was first photographed at the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park. The bird lives in a wide range of forested and human-modified habitats and is particularly found in Southeast Asia, a Davao Light statement said.

Since then, the number of endemic and migratory birds continues to rise, and by 2020, the number had finally reached 100. Davao Light quoted one Davao-born birdwatcher as saying, “What was really interesting is the sighting of the Pied Imperial-pigeon (Ducula bicolor) at the park,” said Brenda Milan, a Davaoeña birdwatcher and photographer.

She said the pigeon inhabits coastal forests on small offshore islands, only making occasional forays to mainland areas to hunt and sleep.

“Maybe something happened in their traditional roosting area, or where they regularly settle or congregate to rest, and they found Cleanergy Park a safer preserve,” Milan said. “I think the birds feel

safe at the Cleanergy Park. There are very few people moving around in the area.”

A nother notable finding is the annual visit of the Spotted Imperial Pigeon (Ducula carola). “The nesting records of the Pied Imperial Pigeon are impressive for an urban park. A small flock was first seen in 2019 and they are now residents in the park, recently confirmed to be nesting,” Simpson said.

The spotted imperial pigeon, also known as the grey-necked imperial pigeon, is a species endemic to the Philippines. It lives in forests and forest edges but goes down to the limestone shorelines, possibly to feed or to replenish the salt content needed by its body.

The security personnel controls the number of people coming in and out of the area and prevents hunting, making the park a rare oasis of safety for the birds in Davao City,” Simpson said, as he noted that these wild species of birds were hunted everywhere in the Philippines despite laws banning it.

For example, vulnerable spe -

cies like the Spotted Imperial Pigeon are threatened by habitat loss and hunting and are protected under Republic Act 9147 or the “Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.”

Only 5 bird species DAVAO Light said there were only five bird species spotted during the time when a study was conducted by a group of researchers from the University of the Philippines Mindanao and the University of Southeastern Philippines who were commissioned to conduct a baseline study in 2013.

Planting of trees was among the recommendations of the study and in an effort to make the place more attractive to wildlife, tree planting activities were conducted at the site with the help of other public and private organizations.

In October, the Birdwatching in Davao group revisited the park. One bird captured by Milan is a grey-tailed tattler hunting for small crabs along the shores of the park. They darted about, bobbing and teetering between runs, and

locate prey by sight or by probing.

Turtle nesting THE Aboitiz Cleanergy Park is more known as a nesting ground of the critically endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtles.

Park authorities has partnered with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of Region XI (DENR-XI) and the Davao city government to establish the Pawikan Rescue Center inside the park.

On May 20, an injured female hawksbill sea turtle was discovered and immediately turned over to the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park to ensure proper care and rehabilitation. The pawikan was a victim of spear-fishing practices, and had to undergo critical medical procedures in order to survive.

“ We at Davao Light and AboitizPower are fully committed to our cause of saving the pawikans We must all carry this responsibility so that our future generations will be able to see them. It can be through small acts such as keeping

A narrow strip of land developed to provide a nesting site for turtles in Davao City has attracted several species of birds, including some rare ones.

CLEANERGY Park from above. White-sand Nesting turtle beach can be seen. ABOITIZ.COM

A GREY-TAILED tattler was captured with a small crab caught between its beak near the shore of the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park. DAVAO LIGHT PHOTO BY BRENDA MILAN

A PINK-NECKED Green Pigeon was captured perched on a branch at the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park in 2016. DAVAO LIGHT PHOTO BY PETER SIMPSON

A SPOTTED Imperial Pigeon was captured soaring above the beach area of the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park in 2016. DAVAO LIGHT PHOTO BY PETER SIMPSON

Abrupt end of Covid Zero threatens to overwhelm China with infections

while pangs of fear were common worldwide as the virus first took hold in communities, the places that fought it most ferociously face an additional hurdle because living with the virus requires a mental shift that can be hard to accept.

The world’s most populous nation is rapidly abandoning the mass testing, lockdowns and centralized quarantine that defined the stringent, three year-old policy. Yet, little time has been spent putting in place the mitigation measures needed to deal with the resulting explosion in cases, which could total 5.6 million a day at the peak, according to some estimates.

Unlike the whack-a-mole pattern of the outbreaks that took place in the US and Europe over months and years, China is likely to see a wave of infections engulf the country all at once in a population that until now has largely avoided exposure to the virus.

The result is China’s acceptance of Covid will be like nothing the world has seen in the pandemic.

Experts in science to economics paint a picture of impending chaos, with absenteeism paralyzing factories, serious disease overwhelming hospitals and outbreaks forcing residents to hunker down in their homes. Between 1.3 million and 2.1 million people may die, based on Hong Kong’s earlier experience with the Omicron variant, according to an estimate by London-based research firm Airfinity.

It will be all over the country almost at the same time, but first in urban areas and then in rural because of the crowding,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor at the Insti-

tute of Health Metrics and Evaluation and chief strategy officer for population health at the University of Washington. “It will be one month from now when we see very high numbers of cases, and mortality will come two weeks later. It will never come back down to where it is now.”

Th at projection would put the peak for infections close to the start of Lunar New Year, the most important holiday of the year in China. Before Covid, the weeklong break was the biggest mass migration event in the world as factory workers returned to their home villages for annual visits. Winter weather will also supercharge the virus’s spread as people spend more time inside.

The challenges will be formidable. Nursing homes will have to battle to protect their vulnerable, schools will close for extended periods as waves of infection hit and businesses won’t have enough workers as illness takes hold. China’s reliance on less potent home-grown vaccines means multiple shots are essential, while a dearth of circulating virus allowed people—most worrisomely the elderly—to skip immunization until now.

C hina won’t be the first to transition from Covid Zero, a process navigated with varying degrees of success by Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia. And

I don’t think anything looks good for China right now,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “Its 1.4 billion people are at increased risk of contracting this virus for the first time, and these first infections surely pose the risk of serious disease, including hospitalizations and deaths.”

Investors have been more sanguine. Initial indications that China was exiting Covid Zero buoyed the nation’s financial markets on expectations that the release of pent-up demand would spur consumer spending and drive an economic recovery.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of stocks surged 29% in Hong Kong in November, its best month since 2003. The gains came off a low base—the gauge ended October at the lowest level at an almost 17-year low. The yuan wiped out nearly a third of its yearly loss last month before surging past the key 7 per dollar level on Monday.

More volatility is expected as the impact of rising infections becomes clear.

“ Though the market is still trading on the positive expectations, we are not entirely out of the woods, as we still have to get past the panic that might come with the first wave of infections,” said Ma Xuzhen, fund manager at Longquan Fund in Hangzhou.

Nevertheless, China has some advantages as it tries to fend off the worst-case scenario.

From its position in the back of the pack, China can use information gleaned from the experiences of other parts of the world, including Hong Kong, which struggled with its own deadly wave earlier in the year.

The country also faces a strain of Omicron that’s milder than previous forms.

At this stage, the virus is totally different; being infected isn’t that serious,” said Xiaolin Wei, chair of global health policy at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Health. “Right now, the death rate is very low.”

A n analysis from economists at Barclays suggest China’s fatality rate from an Omicron wave would be 4 in 1,000 people, or 0.4%, among the unvaccinated. For the fully vaccinated, it could be two in 10,000, or 0.02%, they estimated.

The country’s top health authorities this week laid out how they will cope with rising infections. These include a triage plan to ensure residents who fall ill go to the most suitable medical institutions for their needs, rather than only renowned facilities that will be quickly overrun. Officials also are setting up isolated Covid wards for pregnant women, patients battling other diseases and high-risk people with health conditions.

There are signs community medical centers across the country are being mobilized. The National Health Commission called on these grassroots institutions to act as “gatekeepers,” providing a first point of care for patients with mild disease who need to self-medicate and recover at home. They also will be tasked with referrals to betterequipped facilities for those with worsening symptoms.

Officials also vowed to add more hospital beds, especially in intensive care units, which China lags many developed countries by a

large margin.

Yet China faces criticism that such plans have been left too late, with resources instead focused on keeping Covid out—similar to Hong Kong, which found its health-care system overrun earlier in the year.

Preparing hospitals and ensuring adequate care for the elderly is easier said than done, said Huang Yanzhong, a senior fellow for global health at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

“ Training of ICU staff takes years and three years have been wasted,” he said. “Local governments didn’t have the incentive or capability to do advanced planning, or stock up on drugs, while they were busy enforcing Covid Zero. All the necessary planning has been put on the back burner.”

The depletion of fiscal coffers and rampant public discontent are driving the easing, he said, not the country’s readiness for a wave of infections.

Some health experts and economists say the government won’t try and rush its exit from Covid Zero, which means moving past the virus could take time.

E xpectations that China could finish the job in two to three months are unrealistic, wrote Chang Shu, chief Asia economist for Bloomberg Economics. The rapid start could give way to a more measured approach, and the government could even backpedal to “flatten the curve” and reduce the loss of life, she said.

“ The moment the death rate goes up so fast, there will be measures to contain it,” Mokdad said. “They aren’t going to let it rip, no.”

Eric Feigl-Ding, a Harvardtrained epidemiologist, said remaining restrictions will help slow the spread of infections, while people are also more likely to wear masks and stay home.

It still won’t be enough to contain the highly transmissible variant, said Feigl-Ding, chief of

the Covid Task Force at the World Health Network, who predicted half a dozen to a dozen cities will experience runaway transmission.

He is pinning his hopes on Chinese cities imposing circuit breakers if hospitals are overwhelmed and use of the new CanSino Biologics Inc. inhaled vaccine that’s being rolled out.

W hile living with the virus will ultimately benefit the economy, the initial impact is expected to be negative.

Both supply and demand will bear the brunt of a case surge,” said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Group Ltd. “Industrial workers might see widespread infections, while many residents would be reluctant to leave their homes. That will also weigh on consumption.”

R ising infections will curb economic growth at the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023, slowing from already subdued levels and likely falling below 3%, Hu said.

“ The disruptions in the initial phase are probably inevitable,” Hu said. “The weeks leading to the Chinese New Year will likely be chaotic. In this period, local government policies will also likely to vary as the singular goal of getting cases back to zero is gone and they are faced with a slew of new tasks.”

The fact that China is releasing the mitigation measures from Covid Zero without having fully established the methods to protect them as the pathogen spreads—namely vaccines, health care facilities and easy-to-access therapeutics—may make some backpedaling essential.

“ The road to the full reopening could still be gradual, painful and bumpy,” said Ting Lu, chief economist for Nomura International. “China does not appear to be well prepared for a massive wave of Covid infections, and it may have to pay for its procrastination on embracing a ‘living with Covid’ approach.” Bloomberg

ACCIDENTAL TENANTS

and watch them crawl through the sand and swim into the ocean.

our coastal areas clean, not littering, and having safe practices when fishing. These are very simple but have a large impact on preserving our environment,” Edillon Fermin of Davao Light said.

To date, a total of 4,811 hatchlings across 42 nests have been discovered and released into the sea since Fermin’s team started collecting data in 2014. Fourteen pawikans have been rescued, and five were currently being nurtured at the Cleanergy Park.

Fermin and his team do their part in educating students and guests by hosting tours around the park and allowing visitors to release baby hatchlings into the sea

V isitors are taught that it is critical to a pawikan ’s early stage of life to grovel through the sand and into the ocean on their own. The pawikans imprint themselves onto their birthing place—wherein after a few decades, they will return and make their own nests as parents for a new generation of hatchlings.

“It is important to let the youth understand the situation of the pawikans and all other endangered species, so that while they are still young, they are already aware of what they should do and how they could take action to save our wildlife,” Fermin shared.

The Aboitiz Cleanergy Park

is completely wireless and is built entirely using recycled materials. Even at night, lights and lamps are not used, except for flashlights of roving guards and staff, in order not to disturb or confuse the pawikans nesting in the area.

The Aboitiz Cleanergy Park is managed by Davao Light and Power Co. Inc., an AboitizPower subsidiary, and Aboitiz Foundation Inc. “We’re happy to know that our conservation efforts have paid off. We thank our partners for supporting the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park by regularly conducting coastal cleanup and tree-planting activities to maintain the natural habitat of these birds,” said Rodger Velasco, president and chief operating officer of Davao Light.

CHINA faces a daunting task after abruptly giving up on Covid Zero, with infections set to surge and deaths predicted to top 2 million.

ELDERLY residents wear masks as they visit a hospital in Beijing, Friday, December 9, 2022. AP/NG HAN GUAN

‘Next mass killer’: Dropped case foretold Colorado bloodbath

By Jim Mustian, Colleen Slevin & Bernard Condon The Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—

Anderson Lee Aldrich loaded bullets into a Glock pistol and chugged vodka, ominously warning frightened grandparents not to stand in the way of an elaborate plan to stockpile guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb to become “the next mass killer.”

“You guys die today and I’m taking you with me,” they quoted Aldrich as saying. “I’m loaded and ready.”

So began a day of terror Aldrich unleashed in June 2021 that, according to sealed law enforcement documents verified by The Associated Press, brought SWAT teams and the bomb squad to a normally quiet Colorado Springs neighborhood, forced the grandparents to flee for their lives and prompted the evacuation of 10 nearby homes to escape a possible bomb blast. It culminated in a standoff that the then-21-year-old livestreamed on Facebook, showing Aldrich in tactical gear inside the mother’s home and threatening officers outside—“If they breach, I’m a f---ing blow it to holy hell!”—before finally surrendering.

But charges against Aldrich for the actions that day were dropped for reasons the district attorney has refused to explain due to the case being sealed and there was no record showing guns were seized under Colorado’s “red flag” law with similarly no explanation from the sheriff. All of it could be one of the most glaring missed warnings in America’s sad litany of mass violence because, just a year and a half later, Aldrich was free to carry out the plan to become “the next mass killer.”

Clad in body armor and carrying an AR-15-style rifle, Aldrich entered the Club Q gay nightclub just before midnight on Nov. 19 and opened fire, authorities say, killing five people and wounding 17 others before an Army veteran wrestled the attacker to the ground.

“It makes no sense,” said Jerecho Loveall, a former Club Q dancer who is recovering from a wound to the leg from one of the high-powered rounds. “If they would have taken this more seriously and done their job, the lives we lost, the injuries we sustained and the trauma this community has faced would not have happened.”

“It was absolutely preventable,” said Wyatt Kent, who held the hand of a woman as she bled to death on top of him, and who also lost his partner that night.

“Even if charges aren’t filed for a bomb threat, maybe you’re not mentally sound enough to own a firearm.”

Why apparently nothing was done to stop Aldrich since coming onto law enforcement’s radar last year is a question that has haunted this picturesque Rockies city of 480,000 since the shooting, even as loved ones have begun burying the victims and the

shuttered Club Q has become a shrine surrounded by hundreds of bouquets, wreaths and rainbow flags.

Criminal defense lawyers with whom AP shared the law enforcement documents say they questioned why charges were not pursued in the 2021 incident given the grandparents’ detailed statements, a tense standoff at the mother’s home and a subsequent house search that found bombmaking materials that Aldrich claimed had enough firepower to blow up an entire police department and a federal building.

The documents were obtained by Colorado Springs TV station KKTV and verified as authentic to AP by a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the sealed case and kept anonymous. Documents also included a judge’s order to jail Aldrich on $1 million bond and a listing by District Attorney Michael Allen of seven offenses “committed, or triable,” including three felony counts of kidnapping and two of menacing.

For his part, Allen has repeatedly declined to comment on why those charges didn’t go forward, citing a Colorado law that automatically seals records in cases when charges are dropped and requires him to not even acknowledge the records exist. The law was passed three years ago as part of a nationwide movement to help prevent people from having their lives ruined if cases are dismissed and never prosecuted.

And even though Allen said during a news conference soon after the nightclub shooting that he “hoped at some point in the near future” to share more about the 2021 incident, he has yet to do so. AP and other news organizations have gone to court seeking to unseal the entire case file, a request scheduled to be heard later this week.

In the absence of that file, there are only scattered clues about what happened after Aldrich’s 2021 arrest, including Aldrich telling The Gazette of Colorado Springs in August about spending two months in jail as a result of the incident and asking the publication to remove or update its web coverage about it, asserting the case had been dismissed. “There is absolutely nothing there, the case was dropped,” Aldrich said in a phone message, adding, “It is damaging to my reputation.”

When a Gazette reporter followed up with a call and asked why the case was dropped, Aldrich declined to say anything more because the case had been sealed.

Such a troubling case—dropped or not—could still have been used to trigger Colorado’s “red flag” law, which allows family members or law enforcement to ask a judge to order a removal of guns for a year from people dangerous to themselves or others, with possible extensions based on subsequent hearings.

But an AP review shows no record that Aldrich’s grandparents or mother went to a judge to get such an order. And there’s no record the agency that arrested Aldrich, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, did either.

El Paso County is especially hostile to the state’s red flag law, among 2,000 counties nationwide declaring themselves a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” that opposes any infringement on the right to bear arms. It passed a resolution in 2019 specifically denying funds or staff to enforce the law.

Sheriff Bill Elder, who declined to comment on Aldrich’s 2021 case, has previously said he would only remove guns on orders from family members, refusing to go to court himself to get permission except under “exigent circumstances.”

“We’re not going to be taking personal property away from people without due process,” Elder said as the law neared passage in 2019.

Allen, the district attorney, also criticized the red flag law while running for the office in 2020, tweeting that it is “a poor excuse to take people’s guns and is not designed in any way to address real concrete mental health concerns.” He has noted since the shooting that DAs don’t have the authority to initiate such seizures.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man ever elected to lead a state, said in the wake of the nightclub shooting that the failure to take away guns from the alleged shooter needs to be investigated. Authorities have refused to say how the weapons used in the attack were obtained.

“There were many warning signs,” Polis spokesman Conor Cahill told the AP. “It appears obvious that an Extreme Risk Protection Order law could have and should have been utilized, which would have removed the suspect’s firearms and could very well have prevented this tragedy.”

Aldrich, now 22, remains jailed without bond on murder and hate crime charges in the nightclub shooting that carry a potential sentence of life behind bars. Defense attorneys have said Aldrich is non-binary, not strictly identifying with any gender. Aldrich’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

In both a mugshot and first court appearance, the 6-foot4, 260-pound Aldrich appeared slumped with deep bruises and cuts on a fleshy face. It was a stark contrast to the many smiling photos as a youngster on the mother’s Facebook page that belied a turbulent life marked by domestic violence, bullying and family run-ins with the law.

Aldrich’s parents split up soon after their child was born. The father, Aaron Brink, pursued a career as a mixed martial arts fighter and porn actor when he wasn’t doing time for drug convictions or contesting other charges, including battery against Aldrich’s mother.

In an interview after the shoot -

ing, Brink told San Diego television station KFMB that he had lost track of Aldrich a decade ago and thought the child had died by suicide, until Aldrich reached out to him by phone last year. Brink said that when he first heard about the shooting, he was troubled the alleged shooter had gone to a gay bar, citing the family’s Mormon religion.

“We don’t do gay,” Brink said, adding that he now regrets having praised his child for violent behavior when younger. “Life is so fragile and it’s valuable. Those people’s lives were valuable.”

The alleged shooter, born Nicholas Franklin Brink, was so embarrassed by the father, according to 2016 Texas court documents, that weeks before turning 16, the teen filed for a formal name change to Anderson Lee Aldrich.

The filing came months after Aldrich was apparently targeted by online bullying. A website posting from June 2015 attacked a teen named Nick Brink. It included photos similar to ones of the shooting suspect and ridiculed the youngster for being overweight, not having much money and an interest in Chinese cartoons.

Laura Voepel, the mother, has her own history of outbursts and trouble with the law, including an arson count in Texas reduced to a lesser charge. She reportedly was recorded in a July 2022 video in an airport hurling racial epithets at a Hispanic woman who she felt had been taking too long to get her luggage off a plane.

And according to a court record, Voepel was arrested just hours after the Nov. 19 nightclub shooting on resisting arrest and disorderly

conduct charges. She had refused to leave the apartment where she lived with Aldrich, according to FBI records obtained by AP. She can be heard crying out for help as she is pulled by officers away from her home on video she asked neighbors to record.

Aldrich’s behavior on June 18, 2021, began, according to the sealed law enforcement documents, after the grandparents called a family meeting in their living room about their plans to sell their home and move to Florida. The grandchild responded with rage, telling them this couldn’t happen because it would interfere with Aldrich’s plans to store materials in the grandparents’ basement to “conduct a mass shooting and bombing.” The grandparents told authorities Aldrich threatened to kill them if they didn’t promise to cancel the move.

The grandparents begged for their lives as Aldrich told them o f the plans to “go out in a blaze.” When Aldrich went to the basement, they ran out the door and called 911.

A short time later, doorbell video obtained by AP shows Aldrich arriving at the mother’s home lugging a big black bag, telling her the police were nearby and adding, “This is where I stand. Today I die.”

Another shot shows the mother later running from the house.

“He let me go,” the law enforcement documents quote her as saying. Neither Voepel nor Aldrich’s grandparents, who now live in Florida, returned messages seeking more details.

In the end, Aldrich holed up in the mother’s home, threatening to blow up the place as police swarmed and deployed bombsniffing dogs. “Come on in boys, let’s f----ing see it!” Aldrich yelled on the Facebook livestream before later surrendering with hands up and tactical gear swapped for a short-sleeved shirt, shorts and bare feet.

Aldrich’s next arrest would come 17 months later and a few miles away inside the Club Q.

Gunshot victim Loveall says his days since have been spent dealing with grief over those who died and bouts of crying he can’t control. He also fears going to sleep because of the swarm of images in his head: Bullets flying, people diving for cover, shattering glass and blood all over.

“It happened so fast they didn’t have time to scream,” Loveall said as he smoked a cigarette outside his mobile home.

“There is no reason why he should have had access to an assault rifle...especially for someone who has been quoted saying ‘I’m going to be the next mass shooter.”’

C ondon reported from New York. Reporter Michael Schneider in Orlando, Florida, and news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed.

PHOTOGRAPHS of victims of a mass shooting at a nearby gay nightclub are on display at a memorial on November 22, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. AP/DAVID ZALUBOWSKI

IN this image from video provided by Leslie Bowman, Anderson Lee Aldrich surrenders to police at a home where his mother, Laura Voepel, was renting a room in Colorado Springs, Colo., on June 18, 2021. According to sealed law enforcement documents verified by The Associated Press, Aldrich’s actions brought SWAT teams and the bomb squad to the normally quiet neighborhood, forced the grandparents to flee for their lives and prompted the evacuation of 10 nearby homes to escape a possible bomb blast. LESLIE BOWMAN VIA AP

Fentanyl’s scourge still plainly visible on streets of Los Angeles

By Jae C. Hong & Brian Melley The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES—In

When Brandice Josey, another homeless addict, bent down and blew a puff of fentanyl smoke his way in an act of charity, Smith sat up and slowly opened his lip to inhale the vapor as if it was the cure to his problems.

Smith, wearing a grimy yellow T-shirt that said “Good Vibes Only,” reclined on his backpack and dozed the rest of the afternoon on the asphalt, unperturbed by the stench of rotting food and human waste that permeated the air.

For too many people strung out on the drug, the sleep that follows a fentanyl hit is permanent. The highly addictive and potentially lethal drug has become a scourge across America and is taking a toll on the growing number of people living on the streets of Los Angeles.

Nearly 2,000 homeless people died in the city from April 2020 to March 2021, a 56 percent increase from the previous year, according to a report released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Overdose was the leading cause of death, killing more than 700.

Fentanyl was developed to treat intense pain from ailments like cancer. Use of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that is cheap to produce and is often sold as is or laced in other drugs, has exploded. Because it’s 50 times more potent than heroin, even a small dose can

be fatal.

It has quickly become the deadliest drug in the nation, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Two-thirds of the 107,000 overdose deaths in 2021 were attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The drug’s toll spreads far beyond the streets.

Jennifer Catano, 27, has the names of two children tattooed on her wrists, but she hasn’t seen them for several years. They live with her mother.

“My mom doesn’t think it’s a good idea because she thinks it’s gonna hurt the kids because I’m not ready to get rehabilitated,” Catano said.

She has overdosed three times and been through rehab seven or eight times.

“It’s scary to get off of it,” she said. “The withdrawals are really bad.”

Catano wandered around a subway station near MacArthur Park desperate to sell a bottle of Downy fabric softener and a Coleman camping chair she stole from a nearby store.

Drug abuse can be a cause or symptom of homelessness. Both can also intersect with mental illness.

A 2019 report by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Author -

ity found about a quarter of all homeless adults in Los Angeles County had mental illnesses and 14 percent had a substance use disorder. That analysis only counted people who had a permanent or long-term severe condition. Taking a broader interpretation of the same data, the Los Angeles Times found about 51 percent had mental illnesses and 46 percent had substance use disorders.

Billions of dollars are being spent to alleviate homelessness in California but treatment is not always funded.

A controversial bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom could improve that by forcing people suffering from severe mental illness into treatment. But they need to be diagnosed with a certain disorder such as schizophrenia and addiction alone doesn’t qualify.

Help is available but it is outpaced by the magnitude of misery on the streets.

Rita Richardson, a field supervisor with LA Door, a city addiction-prevention program that works with people convicted of misdemeanors, hands out socks, water, condoms, snacks, clean

needles and flyers at the same hotspots Monday through Friday. She hopes the consistency of her visits will encourage people to get help.

“Then hopefully the light bulb comes on. It might not happen this year. It might not happen next year. It might take several years,” said Richardson, a former homeless addict. “My goal is to take them from the dark to the light.”

Parts of Los Angeles have become scenes of desperation with men and women sprawled on sidewalks, curled up on benches and collapsed in squalid alleys. Some huddle up smoking the drug, others inject it.

Armando Rivera, 33, blew out white puffs to attract addicts in the alley where Smith was sleeping. He needed to sell some dope to buy more. Those without enough money to support their habit, hovered around him, hoping for a free hit. Rivera showed no mercy.

Catano couldn’t sell the chair, but eventually she sold the fabric softener to a street vendor for $5.

It was enough money for another high.

Polio is back in Indonesia, sparking vaccination campaign

By Riska Munawarah & Niniek Karmini The Associated Press

PIDIE, Indonesia—Children in school uniforms and toddlers with their parents lined up on Monday for polio vaccinations in the Sigli town square on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, after four children were found infected with the highly contagious disease that was declared eliminated in the country less than a decade ago. The virus was first detected in October in a 7-year-old boy suffering from partial paralysis in the province of Aceh near Sigli, and since then three other cases have been detected, prompting the mass immunization and information drive.

Official say that polio immunization rates in the conservative province are well behind the rest of the country, with efforts hampered by widespread disinformation the vaccine is incompatible with religious beliefs, among other things. The government has also been prioritizing Covid-19 vaccinations since they became available.

The campaign that started Monday aims to vaccinate some 1.2 million children in the province, said Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, the Health Ministry’s director general for disease control and prevention.

“There is no cure for polio, the only treatment is prevention and the tool for prevention is vaccination,” Rondonuwu said, adding that the child is still able to walk, albeit with a limp.

With some 275 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous, and the largest Muslim-majority nation.

Aceh is particularly conservative, and is

Indonesia’s only province allowed to practice Shariah, which was a concession made by the national government in 2006 to end a war with separatists.

False rumors that the polio vaccine contains pork or alcohol, prohibited according to Muslim beliefs, have proliferated, especially in rural areas, complicating vaccination efforts, said the head of the Aceh Health Office, Hanif, who only goes by one name like many Indonesians.

“We cannot work alone, we need support from all parties, including religious leaders, to that people understand the importance of immunization,” said Hanif.

Azhar, the father of the 7-year-old who contracted polio, said he had opted not to immunize his son after other villagers where he lived told him the vaccines may cause harmful chemicals or non-halal substances.

“My neighbors said that my son don’t need to be immunized and I didn’t want my son get sick because of harmful chemicals that are against Islam,” the 45-year-old said.

For Dewi Safitri, a mother of three who was getting them vaccinated on Monday, it was simply a matter of not knowing it was necessary.

She said she was convinced after health workers spelled out the risks of paralysis or death if her children were to go unvaccinated.

“I didn’t even know about immunization,” she said.

The World Health Assembly adopted a resolution for the global eradication of polio in 1988 and since then, wild poliovirus cases have decreased by more than 99 percent, according to the World Health Organization.

It was eliminated in Indonesia in 2014, and is today only still endemic in two countries— Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Polio primarily affects children under the

age of 5, according to the WHO. Unvaccinated people of any ages can contract the disease, however, and sporadic cases continue to crop up.

In September in New York, for example, the state stepped up its polio-fighting efforts after the disease was detected in the wastewater in the New York City area.

Officials began checking for signs of the virus there after the first case of polio in the United States was identified in July in Rockland County, which is north of the city. It was confirmed in a young adult who was unvaccinated.

The statewide polio vaccination rate is 79 percent but Rockland’s rate was lower, and New York health officials urged all unvaccinated residents, including children by 2 months of age, to get vaccinated immediately.

Last week, new poliovirus cases were found in Afghanistan, Algeria, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria, according to the WHO’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Of the three other children in Indonesia from the same village as the initially confirmed case none had their basic vaccinations, Rondonuwu said.

“It has to be reported as an outbreak, because it had been declared eradicated in Indonesia, but it turns out that there is still wild polio virus,” he said.

Rondonuwu said his ministry is keeping a close watch on the cases by doing door-to-door screening to ensure that there are no additional infections that have not been reported.

The polio virus is transmitted person-toperson, generally through the “fecal-oral”route, according to the WHO. In Indonesia, authorities have also pointed to unsanitary conditions as a probable cause of the new infections after

finding out that some local residents still defecate directly into a river where children are often found playing.

Across Indonesia, polio vaccination coverage has been slipping since the outbreak of Covid-19. Despite the challenges of reaching people in the archipelago nation of five main islands and thousands of smaller ones, 73.4 percent of Indonesians are now fully vaccinated for Covid-19 and 87.5 percent have at least one shot.

For polio, 86.8 percent of babies were vaccinated in their first year in 2020 nationwide, which fell to 80.7 percent in 2021 as the country was forced to focus most of its health facilities and workers on addressing the pandemic.

By comparison, only 50.9 percent of the infants born in Aceh in 2021 received a polio vaccination. It was the second lowest on a national scale after West Papua, where only 43.4 percent of babies were vaccinated.

The nationwide decline was part of a broader drop in basic immunizations, such as for measles and rubella, according to UNICEF.

Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist from Australia’s Griffith University, said the discovery of polio in Aceh must be responded to seriously because “the threat is real for Indonesia,” noting that basic immunization coverage is still low, putting the country in a high-risk category.

“This is what the government really has to pursue, because it’s dangerous if we don’t,” Budiman said.

“We must move immediately by strengthening basic immunization or there will be a potential additional health disaster for Indonesia.”

KarminireportedfromJakarta,Indonesia.

Santa Claus is back in town with inflation, inclusion on his mind

By Leanne Italie AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK—Don’t look for plastic partitions or faraway benches when visiting Santa Claus this year. The jolly old elf is back, prepandemic style, and he’s got some pressing issues on his mind.

Santa booker HireSanta.com has logged a 30 percent increase in demand this Christmas season over last year, after losing about 15 percent of its performers to retirement or death during the pandemic, said founder and head elf Mitch Allen.

He has a Santa database of several thousand with gigs at the Bloomingdale’s flagship store in New York, various Marriott properties and other venues around the US. Most of Allen’s clients have moved back to kids on laps and aren’t considering Covid-19 in a major way, he said, but Santa can choose to mask up.

Another large Santa agency, Cherry Hill Programs, is back up to pre-pandemic booking numbers for their 1,400 or so Santas working at more than 600 malls and other spots this year, said spokesperson Chris Landtroop.

“I can’t even explain how excited we are to see everyone’s smiles at all locations this season without anything covering up those beautiful faces,” she said.

Cherry Hill Santas are also free to wear masks, Landtroop said.

Some standout Santas are still keeping their distance. There will be no lap visits at the Macy’s flagship store in New York’s Herald Square. Santa is seated behind his desk.

Some Santas who stayed home the last two years out of concern for their health have returned to the ho ho ho game, but Allen is desperately trying to refill his pipeline with new performers.

Inflation has also taken a bite out of Santa. Many are older, on fixed incomes and travel long distances to don the red suit. They spend hundreds on their costumes and other accoutrements.

“We’re charging the clients slightly more and we’re also paying our Santas slightly more,” Allen said.

Bookings for many Santas were made months in advance, and some work year-round. Allen’s Santas will earn from $5,000 to $12,000 for the season.

A few Santas told The Associated Press they’re unbothered by the cost, however. They’re not in the Santa profession to make a buck but do it out of sheer joy.

Allen and other agencies are juggling more requests for inclusive Santas, such as Black, deaf and Spanish-speaking performers. Allen also has a female Santa on speed dial.

“I haven’t been busted yet by the kids and, with one exception, by the parents, either,” said 48-year-old Melissa Rickard, who stepped into the role in her early 20s when the Santa hired by her father’s lodge fell ill.

“To have a child not be able to tell I’m a woman in one sense is the ultimate compliment because it means I’m doing Santa justice. It cracks my husband up,” added Rickard, who lives outside Little Rock, Arkansas. “I know there are more of us out there.”

By mid-November, Rickard had more than 100 gigs lined up, through Hire Santa and other means.

“A lot of it is word of mouth,” she said. “It’s `Hey, have you seen the female Santa?’”

Rickard charges roughly $175 an hour as Santa, depending on the job, and donates all but her fuel money to charity. And her beard? Yak hair.

Eric Elliott’s carefully tended white beard is the real deal. He and his Mrs. Claus, wife Moeisha Elliott, went pro this year after first taking on the roles as volunteers in 2007. Both are retired military.

They spent weeks in formal Claus training. Among the skills they picked up was American Sign Language and other ways to accommodate people with disabilities. Their work has included trips into disaster zones with the Texas-based nonprofit Lone Star Santas to lend a little cheer.

The Elliotts, who are Black, say breaking into the top tier of Santas as first-time pros and Clauses of color hasn’t been easy. For some people, Eric said, “We understand that we’re not the Santa for you.”

The Santa Experience at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, is staffing up with six Saint Nicks, including two who are Black and its first Asian Santa. Visits in Spanish and Cantonese are provided.

Working smaller jobs, including house visits, the Elliotts have seen how rising prices have hit some people hard. They’ve lowered their rates at times when they sense that people are struggling.

“People are having issues just eating, but they don’t want to miss out on the experience,” Eric said. Sometimes, he said, “You’ll meet them and be like, `You go ahead and hold on to that. I know you worked hard for that.’”

For other clients, the Elliotts charge anywhere from $150 to $300 an hour.

Charles Graves, a rare, professional deaf Santa in New Braunfels, Texas, said through an interpreter that he was inspired to grow his beard and put on the suit in part by awkward encounters with hearing Santas as a child.

“As a child, I was very excited to receive a gift, but then you just kind of go away and you’re like, there’s no connection there. Children look at me now and they’re like, wow, you know, there’s a connection there with the deaf culture. And I can always connect with the hearing kids as well,” said Graves, a spry Santa at 52.

Graves, who has a day job at a school for deaf children, also received training to be Santa. He works as Santa with interpreters. Breaking in has been difficult and expensive, he says, but “this is something really, really important to me.”

By mid-November, he had more than a dozen gigs, including a parade in Santa Paula, California, a mall in Austin, Texas, and at Morgan’s Wonderland, a nonprofit accessible theme park in San Antonio. He’s also doing some Zoom visits.

Among Santa’s rising costs this year are his duds. The price of suits, from custom to ready-to-wear, is up about 25 percent, said 72-year-old Stephen Arnold, a longtime Santa who heads the more than 2,000-strong International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas.

“Most of the performers I know are raising their rates, mostly due to the costs of transportation, accommodation and materials,” he said.

“Personally, I’m raising my rates a bit for new clients but I’m holding prices this year for my repeat gigs.”

Arnold, who’s in Memphis, Tennessee, charges $250 to $350 an hour. Others in his organization, depending on location and experience, charge anywhere from $100 to $500 an hour, the latter in big cities like Los Angeles. Some, he said, don’t know their worth and lowball it at $50 or $75 an hour.

As for the pandemic, Arnold hasn’t heard a word about it from his clients, compared to last year and 2020, when he worked inside a snow globe. The Santas he knows seem unflustered.

“I’m surprised how few people are concerned about it,” Arnold said. “I visit my wife twice a day in a nursing facility. I’m diabetic. I mean, most of us are old fat men.”

a filthy alley behind a Los Angeles doughnut shop, Ryan Smith convulsed in the grips of a fentanyl high—lurching from moments of slumber to bouts of violent shivering on a warm summer day.

FORENSIC assistant Laurentiu Bigu, left, and investigator Ryan Parraz from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office cover the body of a homeless man found dead on a sidewalk in Los Angeles on April 18, 2022. The 60-year-old man died from the effects of methamphetamine, according to his autopsy report. Nearly 2,000 homeless people died in the city from April 2020 to March 2021, a 56 percent increase from the previous year, according to a report released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Overdose was the leading cause of death, killing more than 700. AP/JAE C. HONG

Science Sunday

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Science, history fuse at oathtaking in Bulacan

By Lyn Resurreccion

THESE scientists had their oathtaking as officers of their organization. But it was not just any ordinary oath-taking. It was a fusion of science and history when they held it at a historic site and paid homage to the hero from the province. They likewise visited enterprises that produces products from scientific researches.

The newly elected officers of the Philippines Association for the Advancement of the Science and Technology (PhilAAST) took their oath in front of the bust of hero, Marcelo H. del Pilar, a lawyer, poet and propagandist, at the shrine that was built in his honor. It was built at the site where his family’s house stood in Bulakan, Bulacan.

New PhilAAST officers

AMONG the PhilAAST officers who took their oath were former Science secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, president; Luningning E.S. Domingo, vice president for Economic and Social Sciences; Dr. Eva Maria C. de la Paz, vice president for Medical and Health Sciences; Dr. Corazon A. Menguito, vice president for Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics; Engr. Alex S. E. Sy, vice president for Information Technology; Dr. Annabelle V. Briones, secretary; and Dr. Leticia V. Catris and Dr. Ida F. Dalmacio, members of the board of directors.

Science Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. officiated their oath taking.

The other PhilAAST officers failed to attend the ceremony. They are: Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora, executive vice president and vice president for Agriculture and Life Sciences; Dr. Benjamin S. Austria, vice president for Earth Sciences; Dr. Alvin B. Culaba, vice president for Engineering and Industrial Sciences; Dr. Reynaldo E. de la Cruz, vice president for Environmental Sciences; Atty. Froilan A. Bagabaldo, treasurer; Fe M. Sison, assistant treasurer: Dr. Lucila V. Abad and Dr. Asuncion B. De Guzman, members of the board of directors; and Dr. Diana L. Ignacio, Dr. Jaime C. Montoya, Dr. Lydia M. Tansinsin and Dr. Fortunato B. Sevilla III, board of advisers.

Looked back at history

THE scientists started the day with a visit to the Garden City Multipurpose Cooperative in Tabang, Bulacan, where they viewed rare plants and bought the Christmas season’s flower, the poinsettia. They even received tokens of aglaonema plants.

The cooperative is being supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Provincial Office to develop new varieties of plants.

Afterwards, beyond the organizational rite, the scientists looked back at history. They toured the museum that houses the relics and replicas of del Pilar’s literary works, as well as the collections of different kinds of books written by various Fili -

pino heroes, including copies of La Solidaridad, the newspaper of the Propaganda Movement by Filipinos exiled in Spain.

Del Pilar was born on the site on August 30, 1850, to Julian Hilario del Pilar and Blasa Gatmaytan. He went on self exile in Spain when the Spanish ordered for his arrest for being a “filibuster and heretic.”

With the pseudonym, Plaridel, he became an editor of La Solidaridad. He died of tuberculosis in Barcelona, Spain, on July 4,ir 1896, and was buried in a pauper’s grave.

His remains were exhumed and brought back to the Philippines in December 1920 and was laid to rest at the Mausoleo de los Veteranos de la Revolucion in the Manila North Cemetery. On the shrine stands a monument with his 10-feet statue, where the remains of the hero now rest. A mausoleum of his family is built in the area.

Pharmaceutical and nutraceutical firm

THE PhilAAST officers visited BauerTek Corp., a former grantee of DOST’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program for its research and development program.

A licensee of the Food and Drug

Administration, the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical company, owned by Richard Nixon Gomez. produces drugs, food supplements and cosmetics, and is halal certified.

Its products include vitamins, herbal supplements, such as a powerful anti-oxidant that helps fight cancer, a capsule that is potent against diabetes, one that protects kidneys and also for lungs, and many others.

Its partnerships with government agencies and academic institutions allow the company source high-quality raw materials for its world-class products.

They include the DOST, Department of Agriculture, Isabela State University, Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, Mariano Marcos State University, and several others.

Gomez told the visiting scientists that the company’s organic raw materials from farms managed by top universities are fresh. They are harvested in the morning and the process is completed in a single day—from harvesting to fully sanitized sealed powder through state-of-the art processing.

“It [BauerTek] exceeds stringent government manufacturing standards, raising the bar for others to

FLExPHD Design Thinking Class application open until Dec. 31

Gregorio said.

He explained that planetary health diet is a form of sustainable diet that is healthful for both people and the planet.

FlexPHD is an initiative of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) in partnership with the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology.

Searca Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio said FLExPHD is a mobile app development competition that is open to organizations and app developers that can engage in collaborative efforts to find solutions to the unhealthy diet among Filipinos.

“The app is envisioned to serve as a guide for consumers in making data and values-driven food choices with planetary health diet as the core of the decision support system,”

While it is protective of the environment, planetary health diet can be adapted to be culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable, and nutritionally adequate, safe, and healthy while optimizing natural and human resources.

Gregorio said the FlexPhD Design Thinking Class will enable the participants to create and develop their ideas to help consumers make the right food choices.

“Anyone who can form a team of three members—preferably carrying the name of a school, company, nongovernmental organization, cooperative or association—can apply for the Design Thinking Class. There is no required educational attainment or age limit,” Gregorio said.

The competition is open to Filipino students, researchers, data analysts, computer programmers, app developers and other stakeholders, Searca

said in a news release.

The competition comprises of a series of hackathons and mentoring to teach skills in app development as well as impart knowledge and inculcate the value of planetary health diet.

The top 40 teams to complete the FLExPHD Design Thinking Class will each receive P10,000 as ideation fund to help them develop their ideas.

There will be four regional competitions covering the National Capital Region, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Twelve teams will be selected from these regional hackathons and each team will receive P50,000 as seed fund for prototype improvement, Searca said.

The competition will culminate on the National Demo Day to be held in 2023 where the teams will compete for the P500,000 grand prize. The second prize winner will receive P200,000 and the third prize winner will receive P100,000, Searca said.

Applications may be submitted online via  https://bit.ly/FLExPHDForm.

follow,” the company’s flyer says. Visibly squeaky clean, it said “it has highly efficient and perfectly sanitary facility that can transcend global standards.”

BauerTek Corp. in Sta. Rita, Guiguinto, Bulacan, aims to supply finished goods and raw materials worldwide.

Electronic firm

YONGDEN Technology Corp., owned by PhilAAST officer, Alex Sy, produces electronic products, for local and export market.

During the visit of the PhilAAST officers, the company’s employees, mostly women, are working on power supply products.

Sy is advocating for the training of young students in making and designing finished electronic and other products, and not just work on basic integrated circuits, while the expensive finished product are made in foreign countries.

He said with the young people having such outlook, they and the country would earn more, thereby, aid in development.

Ancestral home

THE oath taking of the PhilAAST

officers was concluded with a sumptuous lunch of seafoods and lechon at the ancestral house of de la Peña in Bulakan, Bulacan.

DOST undersecretary for Regional Operations, provided technical proposals on how to improve local e-bamboo processing to be able to compete with imported counterparts.

They discussed the results of the developed drying schedule for bamboo slats, the physical and natural durability, and mechanical properties of local e-bamboo compared with imported e-bamboo.

E-bamboo is produced by binding together fibers, particles, strips or slats of bamboo with the right adhesive.

The team also visited some manufacturers of e-bamboo in Naawan, Misamis Oriental, Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro City, and made a courtesy call to DOST Lanao del Norte.

DOST-FPRDI holds consultation with C. Mindanao e-bamboo players

ENGINEERED

In

its

DOST-FPRDI Deputy Director Dr. Rico J. Cabangon and Dr. Florentino O. Tesoro, former

The consultation meeting was under the“S&T Intervention on Quality Standard and Drying Protocols for Locally Manufactured Engineered Bamboo” project, which is in collaboration with the Central Mindanao University (CMU). It is funded by DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development, Martin-de Leon said. Other members of the DOST-FPRDI team included Engr. Elvina O. Bondad,

S.

De la Peña is now in charge of the 91-year-old house that was built by his maternal grandparents, Homobono and Isabel Tanseco.

Engr. Ceasar Cuaresma and For. Oliver

Marasigan, while the CMU team was composed of Dr. Lowell C. Aribal, For. Jason A. Parlucha and Engr. Hazel L. Eyana.

A DOST-FPRDI team and Central Mindanao e-bamboo

SOME of the officers of PhilAAST take their oath before Science Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. They are (from left): Dr. Corazon A. Menguito, Engr. Alex S.E. Sy, Dr. Annabelle V. Briones, former Science secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, Dr. Eva Maria C. de la Paz, Dr. Leticia V. Catris, Dr. Ida F. Dalmacio and Luningning E.S. Domingo. The oathtaking was held in front of the bust of

THE PhilAAST officers pose with Richard Nixon Gomez, owner of BauerTek Corp. BERNARD TESTA

THE officers

ENGR . Alex Sy explains the operations of his firm, Yongden Technology Corp. LYN RESURRECCION

Pope: Examination of conscience daily helps avoid repeating mistakes

ROME—Pope Francis has recommended a daily examination of conscience as an “indispensable” practice in spiritual life.

An examination of conscience is a prayerful reflection on one’s thoughts, words and deeds that helps to identify moments of sin and ask for God’s mercy.

This daily examination can be “an invitation to learn from our experiences” and “not to continue to repeat the same mistakes,” the pope said.

Speaking at his recent general audience, Pope Francis said that the devil’s temptation “starts from what is most dear to us and then, little by little, reels us in.”

He said: “This is why a daily examination of conscience is so important. Before finishing the day, stop for a while. What happened? Not in the newspapers, not in life—what happened in my heart?”

“Noticing what happens is important, it is a sign that God’s grace is working in us, helping us to grow in freedom and awareness.

… Learn to read in the book of your heart what happened during the day,” he said.

Pope Francis’s advice was part

Papal honors bestowed on 14 lay Catholics in Lipa archdiocese

LIPA CITY—Pope Francis has conferred papal awards to 14 lay Filipino Catholics with local ties to the Archdiocese of Lipa, south of Manila, for their exceptional service to the Church.

The awardees received their honors from Archbishop Gilbert Garcera during Mass in the Lipa Cathedral on December 6.

In his homily, the archbishop thanked the pope for granting the “distinctive and noble awards” that the archdiocese requested in August last year.

“These papal awards are recognition of the tireless dedication and selfless service of the recipients to God and to the Church,” Garcera said.

The Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award was conferred by the Vatican to Noemi Saludo, 86; Candida Pasia, 98; Antonio Pastor, 92; and Rolando Leyesa, 84.

The papal award is a medal given by the

pope to members of the clergy and laity for distinguished service to the Church. It is the highest honor that can be awarded to the laity by the pope.

Garcera also presented the Benemerenti papal award to Josefina Mendoza, 101; Rosario Apacible, 80; Benita Ruffy Riñon, 86; Dolores Hernandez, 78; Carmelita Enrico, 73; Simplicia de la Cuesta, 66; Josefina Inciong, 76; Regina Erlinda Inciong, 83; Celso Marqueses, 73, and Rosanilia Saludo, 76.

The Benemerenti medal is awarded by the pope to members of the clergy and laity for long and exceptional service to the Church. Originally established as an award for soldiers of the Papal Army, it is now a civil decoration but may still be awarded to members of the Pontifical Swiss Guards.

The awarding took place as the archdiocese marks its year-long 50th anniversary celebration.

of his 10th catechesis in a weekly series on spiritual discernment, which he began at the end of August.

The pope noted that prayer during the day should not be viewed

as a way to avoid a job or task that needs to be done, as in “every time I have to wash the dishes or clean the house, I have a strong urge to pray!”

“Prayer is not an escape from one’s responsibilities,” he said.

“On the contrary, it is an aid in realizing the good we are required to do, here and now.”

In celebration of the feast of St. Andrew, the pope announced that a delegation of the Holy See had traveled to Constantinople.

“I wish to express my special affection to my dear brother Patriarch Bartholomew I and the entire Church of Constantinople,” Francis said.

“May the intercession of the Holy Brother Apostles Peter and Andrew, grant soon to the Church the full joy of her unity and peace to the whole world, especially at this time to the dear and tormented Ukraine, always in our hearts and prayers,” he said.

Five Kenyan acrobats performed stunts in St. Peter’s Square toward the end of the audience to the movie soundtrack of the “Blues

Brothers.”

The pope smiled and clapped as the group—called The Black Blues Brothers—put an acrobatic show to the musical soundtrack from the beloved 1980 comedy film.

Looking out at the Vatican’s recently decorated and nearly 100-foot-tall Christmas tree, the pope wished a blessed Advent season in his greetings to visiting pilgrims from abroad.

In his message to Polish-speaking pilgrims, the pope offered a reminder of the unique role of the Virgin Mary in the Advent season.

“May Our Lady, who accompanies us on the Advent journey, obtain for you and for all present the gift of a heart open to God and to others. I bless you from the bottom of my heart,” Pope Francis said. Courtney Mares/Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Belenismo 2022 winners give more light to nativity scenes

THE lights of the entries to the Belenismo 2022 in Tarlac province, known as the country’s “belen capital,” grew brighter when the winners were announced.

Thirty-one finalists from 54 entries made of indigenous and recycled materials received recognition from Tarlac Heritage Foundation co-founders Isabel Cojuangco-Suntay and daughter Dr. Isa Cojuangco-Suntay.

The first day of the twoday awarding gave prizes to

Kosher bagels for Jews keeping religious rights at World Cup

DOHA, Qatar—Rabbi Eli Chitrik’s phone buzzes. A woman is about to show up at his Doha hotel to pick up her lunch: two bagel sandwiches.

It’s one of many calls Chitrik is receiving these days for bagel sandwiches, freshly made in a designated kosher kitchen set up for Jewish World Cup fans who want to comply with Judaism’s set of dietary regulations during the tournament in Qatar.

Chitrik said the kosher kitchen has been making 100 sandwiches a day to feed fans from around the world, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, the United States, Uruguay and Israel. Recently, production has increased to more than 100 to meet demand.

On Fridays, the kitchen makes “challah,” special bread, usually

braided, that is traditional food on the Sabbath.

“There were some people telling me that they would only be able to come because of this,” he says.

“Some people [were] telling me that they thought this was going to be their first Shabbat without challah and now they could send the picture to their mother that they have challah.”

Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, said he had been involved in discussions with Qatari officials for the past five years to help accommodate the attendance of Jewish fans at the tournament.

Besides making kosher food available, he said, discussions included the attendance of Israelis at the World Cup and direct flights

from Tel Aviv to Doha, despite Israel and Qatar having no diplomatic relations.

“It’s a very important step from an interreligious point of view...from a Qatar-Israel point of view,” he said. “There are so many levels here.”

Qatari officials, with their history of public support for Palestinians, have insisted the temporary opening to Israelis was purely to comply with FIFA hosting requirements—not a step to normalizing ties as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates did in 2020.

Qatar, which often serves as a mediator between Israel and the Hamas militant group in Gaza, has warned that a spike in violence in the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip would derail the arrangement. Despite a surge in deadly fighting in the West Bank in recent days, however, it has taken no action.

Having ties with Israel is a contentious topic, unpopular among many Arabs, due to factors such

municipality, parish and barangay categories.

The first prize winners in the municipality category were the entries from Moncada and Anao, while that from Ramos bagged second prize.

The other winners were the entries from Barangays Camangaan West, San Francisco West and Balingcanaway, Iglesia Filipina Independiente, St. John Nepomuceno Parish, San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish, Lanoria Family, Mcdonald’s Tarlac Motorway, AFP Camp Servillano Aquino-Nolcom, Cresendo community and from the municipality of Concepcion.

as Israel’s 55-year West Bank occupation and a lack of a resolution to the Palestinian issue.

Israeli social media has been filled with videos showing Israeli TV reporters receiving hostile receptions from Arab soccer fans in Qatar.

The Qatari World Cup organizing committee did not respond to emailed questions about the kosher kitchen.

Early each morning, Chitrik heads to the kitchen. There, he supervises the sandwich-making process—from opening the ovens himself to inspecting ingredients for compliance with kosher standards.

Sundried tomatoes in jars, for instance, were excluded for containing non-kosher ingredients; tomatoes are dried in the kitchen’s oven instead.

“I know every little thing that happens in that kitchen, so that way I can tell you 100 percent, no question, this is a kosher sandwich,” he said.

Visitors typically make arrangements to pick up their kosher food from Chitrik. He keeps the bagel sandwiches stored into special cases in his hotel room, with labels declaring the food kosher.

Tirtsa Giller, who is visiting from Israel for World Cup-related work, came to the hotel on Sunday to pick up her lunch.

Flying into Doha, she had stuffed her luggage with dishes, a frying pan, cutlery, tuna cans and snacks to keep kosher.

Working long hours and not wanting to rely on just snacks, she said she was excited when friends in Dubai told her about the new kosher offerings in Doha.

“Everyone was searching for this information, if there is kosher food,” she said. “We were afraid that it’s banned because there were rumors. I’m happy to find out it’s not.”

When he’s not in the kitchen or handing out sandwiches at his hotel, Chitrik, who was born in Israel

but raised in Turkey, said he had been going out on the streets of Doha in his religious garb, including a black hat and tzitzit.

“I want to show that anywhere you are in the world, you can live openly as a Jew the same way, hopefully, you can live anywhere in the world openly as [a] Muslim” or Christian.

His father, Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, who chairs the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, came to Qatar ahead of the tournament to inspect the kosher kitchen, which he and other rabbis involved say was made possible through working with Qatari officials.

“Religious rights and freedoms of Jews, as well as any other religious group, are very, very important to be safeguarded,” said Mendy Chitrik, who is also the rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of Turkey.

“Football and food,” he said, “bring people together.”

Mariam Fam/Associated Press

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph

POPE Francis at the general audience on St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on November 30. VATICAN MEDIA

THE first place winners of entries to the Belenismo 2022 in Tarlac province on the first day of judging are those from Moncada (left), municipality category; San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish (center), church category; and Camangaan West, barangay category

Story & photos by Bernard Testa

THE 14 lay papal awardees in Archdiocese of Lipa with Archbishop Gilbert Garcera and other members of the clergy.

PHOTO FROM ARCHDIOCESAN SHRINE AND PARISH OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA-LIPA CITY

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Biodiversity Sunday

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Beauty, brains plus biodiversity advocacy

By Jonathan l. Mayuga

AS Mina Sue Choi of South Korea

takes home the crown of Miss Earth 2022, the mass communication student at the University of Illinois is expected to lead the recent 87 candidates of the much-coveted beauty pageant in a more challenging role: as advocates of biodiversity protection and conservation.

On November 13, the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and Miss Earth Foundation signified their partnership for biodiversity through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the ACB Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna. Miss Earth 2021 Destiny Wagner and Atty. Genalyn Bagon-Soriano signed the MOU on behalf of Miss Earth Foundation and ACB, respectively.

At the end of the event, the candidates expressed their commitment to the advocacy through a manifesto stating their pledge for biodiversity.

Pageant for a cause

LAUNCHED in 2001, the Miss Earth pageant is an international environmental event channeling the beauty pageant as an effective tool to promote environmental awareness.

Many women admire and aspire to be a beauty queen. At the same time, Carousel Productions Inc. believe beauty queens would be good and effective advocates of worthy causes.

The candidates and winners of the Miss Earth Beauty Pageant actively promote and get involved in the preservation of the environment and the protection of Mother Earth.

Apart from a strong emphasis on environmental protection programs, Miss Earth also showcases and promotes tourist destinations.

The winner serves as the ambassador to environmental protection campaigns worldwide.

Biodiversity advocates

THIS year’s event is focused on biodiversity protection and conservation.

A t the ACB headquarters, the candidates gave a glimpse of what they know about

biodiversity and shared their thoughts about its issues and concerns in their respective countries.

W hile some of the candidates can be considered new and quick learners, many already have their own personal experiences back home, even sharing learnings from their advocacies for nature.

The collaboration between ACB and Miss Earth Foundation aims to scale up the Asean body’s efforts in r aising awareness on biodiversity issues to a wide range of audiences.

I ncidentally, this year’s theme, “Miss Earth loves fauna,” is a declaration that beauty pageants can be a strategic and effective platform in calling for collective actions to conserve, protect and sustainably use the rich biological resources within and beyond the Southeast Asian region.

Effective communication

ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said in a statement that together, ACB and Miss Earth Foundation can effectively communicate the values of protecting Asean’s diverse yet vulnerable animal species, and of biodiversity as a whole.

“All these animal species play vital roles in the ecosystem that provides us with all our needs to survive,” Lim said.

“We, at Miss Earth, will endeavor to use our platform to educate the public on the impacts of different issues affecting ecological balance, including habitat destruction and wildlife trafficking,”

Catherine Untalan-Vital, representing Miss Earth Foundation, said for her part.

As part of the partnership, the website of the Miss Earth pageant showcased along with every candidate an iconic species from their countries of origin.

F or the Philippines, the critically endangered “kulasisi” or Philippine hanging parrot, which is endemic to several islands in the country, was highlighted.

Biodiversity 101; unleash passion

RENEE LORICA , Knowledge Management specialist at ACB, gave a 30-minute session with the Miss Earth 2022 candidates, where some threw compelling questions that are difficult to answer.

“Their questions and even answers are very inciteful. Maymgahugot [They unleash emotions],” Lorica said.

According to Lorica, the candidates are very passionate. She surmised that they are very eager to learn and do their part.

“ They are ready. I think this partnership will work when they go back to their own countries, where they win or not,” she noted.

Social-media influencer

LORICA said the candidates can be very helpful in communicating the importance of biodiversity.

Most of the candidates are, in fact, social-media savvy, with some having strong followings on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In their own right, beauty pageant

contestants, are strong influencers and the Miss Earth 2022 candidates can actually influence the public to help, protect and conserve biodiversity, in their own little ways.

“You know, everybody can be a biodiversity champion. The young and the old alike through social media,” she said.

Environmental sustainability, agriculture

MISS Earth Philippines 2022 Jenny Ramp from Santa Ignacia, Tarlac, told the B usiness M irror in an interview at the sideline of the ACB event that she intends to be the voice of biodiversity, and inspire and empower the youth to create change.

“A lot of people are wondering what they can do at home or what they can do in general. They might feel they are too young or feel that they have no power. I would like to remind everyone what they can do. A lot of people nowadays are in social media. As influencers, we can do a lot back in our own countries,” she explained.

Besides promoting environmental sustainability, Ramp’s advocacy is also to educate the people about the importance of agriculture and to appreciate the people behind the noble profession—the Filipino farmers.

“I dedicate my advocacy to all the hardworking farmers of my country, the

Philippines, who give all their strength to provide quality crops and staples for us. However, they do not receive enough practical and long-term support,” she said.

She noted that the Filipino farmers are unable to increase crop yield and maintain farming efficiency due to a number of factors, such as natural disasters, lack of agriculture technology, and equipment, capital, and the challenge posed by the shrinking arable land due to industrialization.

“Our agricultural sector is highly pressured right now as the population steadily balloons and is unable to meet demands, thus, leading to more problems. As an environmental advocate, I call on our government and all my fellow citizens to create sustainable and long-term solutions for our dear farmers,” she urged.

Educating younger generations

MISS Indonesia Karina Basrewan said that as a Miss Earth 2022 candidate, she will use her influence to promote awareness about biodiversity, especially targeting the youth, who she said “are very much into social media.”

Her advocacy is about the Komodo dragon, which is native to Indonesia.

Unfortunately, she said the largest member of the monitor lizard is threatened with extinction due to a number of factors, including natural disasters like earthquakes,

fires, volcanic activities, tourism, and illegal poaching of the dragons.

“Although most of it is due to natural disasters, we have to shift our focus on the main concern causing natural disasters, which is climate change. While climate change is an issue we can tackle separately when focusing specifically on the fauna and the endangered species, effective conservation actions need to be done in order to preserve our Komodo dragon,” she said.

Plastic pollution

CHARMAINE NG Singapore’s Miss Earth 2022 candidate, is advocating the reduction of plastic waste pollution.

She said the recent Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the use of plastic packaging and medical resources.

“As a nurse, I have seen this first hand and can attest that we need to take action now. As citizens of the earth, I believe we can do our small part as we go about our daily lives which will contribute to a bigger, collective, and positive impact,” Ng said.

“By doing simple things such as reducing non-essential plastics by bringing a reusable water bottle, or by refusing plastic straws, we are already taking part in the big picture of reducing plastic pollution,” she added.

Mobilizing people

LIM said the ACB is pleased to engage the Miss Earth Asean candidates and winners in promoting biodiversity in Southeast Asia and the world.

“As a region rich in biodiversity upon which the majority of the population depends on, and yet not appreciated as much, it would be mutually beneficial for ACB and Miss Earth [Foundation] to work together to raise awareness on one of Asean’s most valuable resource, its biodiversity,” she told the B usiness M irror via Messenger.

Lim added that it is also an opportunity to showcase Miss Earth’s genuine concern for its advocacy, which is caring for Mother Earth and all the creatures that live on it.

“For Miss Earth, it is not enough to be just beautiful. The beauty must be matched with brains and heart that can mobilize more people to act and conserve what’s left of our natural wealth,” Lim ended.

BIODIVERSITY SUMMIT

THE most important gathering on biodiversity in a decade kicked off this past week in Montreal, where countries will negotiate an ecological deal that could hold equal significance to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

That’s because scientists view biodiversity as one of the chief weapons in combating global warming.

Protecting the world’s ecosystems, and the diverse life within them, from destruction, pollution and other threats, also means protecting natural carbon sinks that absorb emissions.

Bu sinesses are increasingly interested in meeting their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals through biodiversity measures—such as forestry preservation— and a record number of financial institutions are expected to attend the conference known as 15th Conference of Parties (COP15).

The United Nations-run gathering have representatives from 191 countries and follows COP27, a larger UN summit focused on climate change that took place in Egypt last month.

COP15 runs from December 7 to December 19. Here’s what you need to know:

What’s on the table

REPRESENTATIVES are negotiating the wording of an agreement that lays out four long-term biodiversity goals for 2050, and 23 specific “action targets” to be completed by 2030, according to a news release from the UN on Sunday.

The latter group includes eight targets to protect biodiversity, and five geared at making sure humans use nature sustainably and share its bounties and benefits equitably.

The remainder are tools and solutions to achieve those targets and goals.

The final text requires unanimous agreement to pass.

Who will be there HIGH-LEVEL talks will be handled mainly by environment ministers. The work builds on goals first established by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which was signed 30 years ago at the Rio Earth Summit and has been ratified by nearly 200 countries.

T he US, which has not ratified the convention, is expected to play a key behindthe-scenes role as a COP15 observer, given recent progress in this area under President Joe Biden.

That includes his appointment of a special envoy for biodiversity and water resources, the Inflation Reduction Act, and a new report on nature-based solutions for climate unveiled by the White House at COP27.

About 1,400 organizations—including nongovernment organizations and businesses from 103 countries—are attending the conference as well.

Support from the financial sector is seen as key to successfully implementing an agreement because funding to support biodiversity measures is currently far less than various estimates of what’s needed.

Who won’t be there WORLD leaders are unlikely to attend but fewer speeches and less pomp and circumstance may be a good thing in terms of getting more technical work done.

C anada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be the notable exception, given Canada is the host country. (Technically this meeting should be taking place in China, which holds the COP15 presidency, but it

was moved due to Covid lockdowns.)

Five things to watch 1. Targets and goals

2030: T he biggest news to come out of COP15 would be a consensus on what’s known as the “30 by 30” t arget. It asks countries to commit to protecting 30 percent of the world’s land and sea by 2030, including key ecosystems around the world.

“It has gained enough suppor t prior to the meeting to stand a high chance of landing. But it isn’t a foregone conclusion,” says Alistair Purdie, an analyst at clean energy research group BloombergNEF (BNEF) and lead author of a recent report released by the group ahead of COP15.

“Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa are yet to commit, so compromises from developed countries in other areas like finance and genetic resource benefit sharing will need to be made,” Purdie says

Genetic resource sharing means distributing any benefits—including profit—that come from using genes found

in the world’s living organisms to create new products.

Agriculture is an obvious example: much of the genetic information used to create new, drought-resistant crops comes from plants in the Southern hemisphere but the companies developing them are typically in the north. Medicine would be another example.

2050: An agreed goal to not only halt, but also start to reverse biodiversity loss by 2050 would be meaningful. That would likely mean enhancing the world’s natural ecosystems, tackling extinctions, and maintaining genetic diversity among the planet’s lifeforms. This could be expressed merely as an aspiration or backed up with numerical targets.

BNEF’s report puts the chances of a meaningful deal at fifty-fifty but says, if it happens, COP15 could be as significant as the 2015 Paris Agreement.

2. ‘Nature positive’ language

THE idea of stopping and eventually reversing biodiversity loss—a strategy

known as “nature positive”—is becoming the new “net zero” in terms of planet-friendly guiding principles for nations and businesses. The concept underpins many proposals in the draft agreement.

Target 18, for example, calls for slashing government subsidies and incentives that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion a year, and ensuring future incentives are at least neutral and increasingly positive.

3. Business requirements

TO get companies to adopt nature positive practices, businesses and financial institutions could be required to track and disclose their effect on biodiversity.

The aim would be to cut negative impacts by at least half by 2030, with a gradual increase toward positive impacts.

T he trick will be measuring progress, according to Jessica Smith, nature lead at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative. Unlike e missions, she says, changes to ecosystems aren’t tracked a single way.

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures has been making progress on identifying metrics, Smith says, and could lead the way on this.

We need a really robust definition of nature positive,” she says.

4. Biodiversity finance

LACK of financing was one of the reasons the last biodiversity agreement, struck in 2010, failed to meet its targets.

T he COP15 framework identifies a global gap of $700 billion a year that would need to be bridged for success.

In their report, BNEF analysts note this is seven times larger than the finance

goal that has proved a pinch point in climate talks.”

Target 19 calls for at least $200 billion a year in financing by 2030 to narrow that gap. The elimination of half a billion dollars worth of harmful subsidies per year would make up the rest.

Significant financial “capacity building” will be needed to free up funds, says Ryan Riordan, research director of the Institute for Sustainable Finance at Canada’s Queen’s University.

“We need to develop the tools, and the methods, and the technology to value this stuff better,” he says. “It’s really easy for us to take a look at balance sheets and income statements of firms. How do we do that for habitats, or salt marshes, or peat bogs or coral reefs? “

Just as governments need a way to measure nature-positive impacts, the financial sector needs to be able to place a dollar value on biodiversity improvements or avoiding degradation. Some of the solutions being discussed within the financial community include a biodiversity index or biocredits.

5. Indigenous rights

THERE is a growing recognition of the value indigenous peoples can provide as stewards of biodiversity.

The current framework aims to make sure their traditional knowledge guides biodiversity decisions, their consent is given, and their rights are upheld.

It also acknowledges that decisionmaking, and benefits to natural systems, need to be shared equitably among people, cultures and countries.

Bochove/Bloomberg

THE Asean Centre for Biodiversity and Miss Earth Foundation signify their partnership for biodiversity in a signing of a memorandum of understanding at the ACB Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna. Miss Earth 2021 Destiny Wagner (left) and Atty. Genalyn Bagon-Soriano sign the MOU on behalf of Miss Earth and the ACB, respectively. ACB PHOTO

MISS Earth 2022 candidates make their pledge for biodiversity at the ACB headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, on November 13. ACB PHOTO

WORKERS set up the Montreal Convention Centre on December 2 in preparation for the COP15 UN conference on biodiversity in Montreal. Environmental leaders are gathering in Montreal to hammer out a framework they hope will help provide much-needed protection for the world’s biodiversity. PAUL CHIASSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL...

Which new stars can replace Messi, Ronaldo after World Cup?

DOHA, Qatar—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are not ready to say goodbye to the World Cup just yet.

But the clock is ticking on their careers and Qatar could be the last time we see them on soccer’s biggest stage.

With that in mind, thoughts naturally turn to a new generation and life beyond two men who have dominated the sport for the past 15 years, sharing 12 Ballon d’Or awards for best player in the world and nine Champions League trophies between them.

Theirs are big shoes to fill and, to their legions of fans, each one stands alone as the greatest of all time.

So if separating Messi and Ronaldo has been difficult enough, imagine replacing them.

But life—and sport—moves on and the World Cup is the perfect stage for a new breed of would-be superstars to showcase their talent.

O ne name stands out above all

as the natural heir to the big two: Kylian Mbappe.

“ I think we still have not seen the best of Kylian,” said France teammate Olivier Giroud. “He is amazing and he is still young, which is scary because he still can improve his game.”

Not that Mbappe could be described as “new.” He may only be 23 and still waiting for his first Ballon d’Or or Champions League trophy, but Mbappe is already a World Cup winner and the leading scorer at this tournament with five goals.

He has the trophy Messi and Ronaldo crave—and in a week or so, could have two of them.

M bappe could also have two or three more World Cups left in him, and, with nine goals over two tournaments so far, he is closing in on Miroslav Klose’s all-time record of 16 at the finals.

Qatar feels like a passing of the torch to the Paris Saint-Germain forward, who combines mesmerizing

footwork with devastating speed and clinical finishing, which are the qualities that set Messi and Ronaldo apart for so long.

But to match their powers of longevity, perhaps what Mbappe requires most, is a rival to push him to greater heights.

Would Messi or Ronaldo have reached such feats of excellence without the other one driving them on?

The most obvious challenge to Mbappe right now comes from Erling Haaland, the Manchester City goal machine whose country, Norway, didn’t qualify for the World Cup.

He is a different prospect: raw power and goals, without the finesse or individual skills of Mbappe. But if it is about numbers, Haaland has the potential to go toe-to-toe with him in terms of European trophies and scoring.

The World Cup has provided less obvious competition for Mbappe.

England’s Jude Bellingham represents a different profile of

Boxing powerhouse Cuba lets women boxers compete

HAVANA—Legnis Cala Massó

The 31-year-old swings her wiry body into the ring and pounds her fellow boxer—also a young woman— with a series of punches, just as she’s done countless times before.

Today is a day she’s been waiting for since she started to box seven years ago.

Cuban officials announced Monday that women boxers would be able to compete officially after decades of restrictions, though they didn’t yet confirm if that would be taken to a professional level like it was with Cuban male boxers earlier this year.

Still, it sparked excitement in women like Cala Massó who have spent years fighting to be recognized

“Saying that boxing is not for Cuban women—that’s always been the problem,” she said, leaning on the side of a blue boxing ring in downtown Havana. “Where we are now, we never thought we would get here.”

Cuba is known worldwide for boxing, home to many legendary male boxers–among them Félix Savón, Teófilo Stevenson and Julio César La Cruz–and owner of a dozens of Olympic medals in the sport.

But the island has also sparked controversy by not allowing women to compete, despite permitting them to do so in other contact sports like taekwondo and wrestling.

Perhaps most notably in 2009, the former head coach of Cuba’s men’s team Pedro Roque told a group of journalists that “Cuban women are there to show their beautiful faces, not to take punches.”

It was a sentiment Cala Massó and other women who have embraced the

sport have rejected as they’ve sought to change the rules.

Cala Massó began boxing in Havana with just one other women, spending long hours training despite being turned away by many coaches and boxing rings. With time, interest in boxing among women has only grown.

O n Monday morning, officials with Cuba’s National Institute for Sports, INDER, announced in a press conference that they would hold a competition of 42 women boxers in mid-December to choose 12 athletes for a women’s team.

The team, they said, will compete in the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador, their first international debut. The competition will be a first step toward the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Women were first allowed to box in the Olympics in 2012.

Cala Massó, who now trains with five other women, hopes the decision means their community will only grow.

The announcement comes shortly after Cuban boxers made a comeback in May in Mexico, with male boxers competing professionally—and getting paid—for the first time since the communist government prohibited professional sports 60 years ago. It was a big change in a country where athletes, namely boxers and baseball players, regularly leave for paychecks elsewhere.

Down the line, once the team is built, those women could also potentially compete in a professional capacity, INDER officials said.

M eanwhile, they said Cuban women boxers will be able to train in state sports centers starting in January.

Emilia Rebecca Hernández, of INDER, said that the changes would make it so “Cuban women athletes can move up to the place where they belong—right next to men.”

Yet Hernández, who spoke only briefly, was the only woman on a

panel of male officials who said their delay in allowing women to practice the sport was because they had to investigate “the risks that women could run.”

Women will wear additional padding, they said.

Yet for 22-year-old Giselle Bello Garcia, who boxed alongside Cala Massó after having only started boxing one year earlier for exercise, said the news offers them a chance to show what they’re made of.

“I have a new hope for life, because my life has changed. From now on, I’m going to focus solely on boxing,” she said. “I want my whole life, up until my death, to be connected to boxing.”

I have to be the best,” she added. AP

player, but his dominant midfield performances have driven his country to the quarterfinals where it will meet defending champion France.

I love playing with him, he’s young, he’s energetic, he gets around the pitch really well,” said teammate Declan Rice.

“For every game that I’ve played with him so far, I’ve just said to him: This is your stage, go out and perform.”

Elsewhere, Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo has three goals and has enhanced his reputation after being linked with a transfer to Manchester United in the summer. But he is playing his club football in the Dutch league with PSV Eindhoven, so still has work to do to be considered among the elite players.

“ Things can change, but Cody has everything it takes to become a star,” said Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal.

“He has a wonderful personality to become a star player because he is openminded to anything and everything.”

Portugal’s Joao Felix is yet to fulfil his potential at Atletico Madrid, but has shown flashes of the talent that saw him identified as a star of the future when emerging at Benfica. He has the type of individual, gamechanging qualities to see him stand out from the pack, while the chance step out of Ronaldo’s shadow for his country could help his development.

Meanwhile, Felix’ Portugal teammate Goncalo Ramos has suddenly thrust himself into focus after his hat trick against Switzerland in the round of 16 when replacing Ronaldo in the line up.

V inicius Junior, 22, is emerging as a force for Brazil and a potential successor to Neymar as his country’s next icon.

He’s made progress since joining Real Madrid and has been showing that at the World Cup,” said Real Madrid clubmate Luka Modric.

A rgentina’s Julian Alvarez looks like a natural goal scorer.

Germany’s Jamal Musiala is seen as his country’s big hope, while Spain midfield pair Gavi and Pedri are bringing back memories of the country’s all-conquering partnership of Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

But in terms of impact, influence and star appeal, none can compare to Mbappe.

O f course, Messi and Ronaldo are not done yet.

A nd who would put it past either one of them to add one more winning chapter to their story at this World Cup? AP

Brittney Griner’s release celebrated by hoops world

BRITNNEY GRINER’S loved ones and extended basketball family were ecstatic when news broke Thursday about her release from a Russian prison and that she was on her way back to the United States.

It has been nearly 300 days since the WNBA star was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February, when customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison in August. Now four months later, she’s headed home after the US and Russia had a high-level prisoner exchange Thursday. The exchange did not include the return of another American, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years.

“ Today, my family is whole but as you all are aware, there are so many other families who are not whole,” said Brittney’s wife, Cherelle Griner, at a White House briefing. “BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate BG being home.”

G riner, who turned 32 in October, was going back to Russia in February to play for her overseas team, UMKC Ekaterinburg. She went to Russia to supplement her WNBA salary, earning over $1 million to play in Russia.

“ There has not been a day over the past 10 months where we all haven’t had Brittney Griner on our minds and in our hearts, and that has now turned into a collective wave of joy and relief knowing that she will soon be reunited with her family, the WNBA player community, and her friends,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who admitted to being very emotional when she heard the news this morning. “BG has shown extraordinary courage and dignity in the face of enormous adversity.”

W hile it’s unclear right now if Griner wants to ever play basketball again, she would be welcomed back with open arms by both the WNBA and USA Basketball. The WNBA season begins May 19. Engelbert said she’d give Griner and her family some space and time before any discussion about her return to the league.

It’s been a long, horrible ordeal and we really look forward to her return and hearing her voice,” Engelbert said.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has been a prominent advocate for Griner’s return. Staley, who coached Griner on the 2020 Olympic team, feels that playing again could be helpful to the dominant center.

It’s been a place in which we can block out everything else, join arms with our teammates. Listen to the incredible crowds that support our game. There’s so much love that the basketball community has for Brittney that they want to show her,” Staley said. “We want her back in her happy place. So I hope that Brittney laces them up. But if she does not, I truly would understand why. We’re still going to support it. We’re still going to lift her up.”

Staley said she broke down with tears of joy when she heard the news Thursday morning. Like Staley, WNBA players have done their best to keep Griner’s name in the national spotlight over the last eight months by talking about her in interviews and posting about her on social media.

O n Thursday, they flooded social media with their joy.

“ My heart is really singing with joy right now. Our sister is finally free,” WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike said. “This is a monumental moment for everyone who has shown compassion for our WNBA sister over the last 294 days since BG was wrongfully detained.”

Griner is under contract with the Phoenix Mercury, who were allowed by the league to pay her full salary of nearly $228,000 last season without it counting against their salary cap. The team was thrilled that their eight-time All-Star was coming home.

Miraculously, mercifully, the count of days detained has ended at 294, and our friend, our sister is headed back home where she belongs,” the Mercury said in a statement. “The emotions for our organization, just like for our fans and so many across the world, are those of joyous celebration, deep gratitude, grief for the time lost, and sincere hope for all families still awaiting the return of a loved one. BG’s strength in this process, her unwavering belief that resolution would come, and the hope she displayed every day is what kept all of us believing this day would come.”

of Laveen, Arizona, and Patty Talahongva

show support for Brittney Griner

carefully removes her necklace and smiles as her coach slides her bright red boxing gloves over her French tip nails.

BOXER Giselle Bello Garcia (left) throws a punch at Ydamelys Moreno during a training session in Havana, Cuba. AP

ONE name stands out above all as the natural heir to the big two—Kylian Mbappe—but count in Norway’s Erling Haaland, England’s Jude Bellingham, the Netherlands’s Cody Gakpo and Portugal’s Goncalo Ramos. AP

How tHe pandemic affected our approacH to reading

RETURN ENGAGEMENT

Acel, Aia, Barbie, Hannah, Kitchie and Lougee goes for seconds in Tanawin concert

By Edwin P. Sallan

STILL in euphoria over their hugely successful, sold-out Tanaw concert that took place at The Theatre at Solaire last November 26, Acel Bisa, Aia de Leon, Barbie Almalbis, Hannah Romawac, Kitchie Nadal, and Lougee Basabas have decided that once is simply not enough.

These sought-after female rock artists, who made their mark in OPM history not only as lead singers of the bands Orphan Lily, Moonstar88, Imago, Hungry Young Poets, Mojofly and Session Road but also as successful solo acts in their own right, are going for an extended encore.

only which is a stark contrast to the posh and state-of-the-art halls of The Theatre At Solaire.

the ladies in the group when I say, we’re not stagnant. We’re forever moving forward,” she said in an earlier interview with SoundStrip.

Tanawin now sees the beauty of gazing longingly ahead of time, be it out of reflection, curiosity, or admiration. As singer-songwriters find new meaningful ways to share music and deliver confessionals, the ladies of Tanawin are ready to put out new songs in the same way they’re comfortable serenading the crowd with familiar hits.

And obviously, there are those who still can’t get enough of their performances in Tanaw. To them, Hannah has this to say.

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez Aldwin M. Tolosa Jt Nisay Edwin P. Sallan Eduardo A. Davad

Niggel Figueroa Anabelle O. Flores Tony M. Maghirang, Rick Olivares, Leony Garcia, Patrick Miguel

Kaye VillagomezLosorata Annie S. Alejo Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

A sequel of sorts to their collaborative show, this time at a newer venue at 123 Block in Mandala Park in Mandaluyong City, the concert dubbed as Tanawin: A Thanksgiving and Listening Party happening on December 14 is not just a mere repeat of Tanaw. Having introduced new songs that were well-received at the Solaire show, the ladies now see Tanawin as an opportunity to introduce more new material.

“While we like nostalgia, we are done looking back,” Aia posted on her Facebook page as she promised fans “will hear new songs” and “catch collaborations” at Tanawin.

“While it takes courage to step into the realm of the unknown, it is doable alone. But why walk alone when you can party with sisters moving forward?,” Aia added in explaining what to expect for the coming concert.

More than just giving those who did not get to see Tanaw another chance to catch these talented ladies together, Tanawin also provides those who did see the earlier concert to see all six of them again in a fresh, new light.

During her Tanaw set, Acel made a humorous mention of the now defunct alternative rock bars, Mayric’s and Club Dredd where all six of them used to play with their respective bands. With its similar vibe, 123 Block provides an ideal venue for a throwback tribute to the girls’ humble beginnings during the late 90s and the early 2000s.

As a matter of fact, the place has become the venue of choice for launches of new releases by an increasing number of alternative acts as of late.

In using the word Tanaw as the title of their first concert together, Hannah explained that the word applies to “both looking back and looking forward.”

“There’s fluidity in the word. It’s not stagnant. I can speak for

“How to cure your Tanaw hangover? Let’s have another!! See you at Tanawin,” Hannah posted on her Facebook page.

Presented by GNN Entertainment Productions, Tanawin marks the second time that the six solo acts will be performing together live. From their early days as lead vocalists of late ‘90s/early 2000s bands, to establishing their identity as individual artists, the six acclaimed singer-songwriters have proven their staying power with sold-out tours and concerts, chart-topping singles and albums, and a dedicated fanbase.

Regular and VIP tickets are available at PHP 1,300 and PHP 2,200 VIP respectively, for a limited number/time only. Get it here: bit.ly/tanawintickets

Chino Roces Avenue corner Dela Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines. Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025 Advertising Sales: 893-2019; 817-1351,817-2807. Circulation: 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. www.businessmirror.com.ph

In addition to the exciting new material, Tanawin will see Acel, Aia, Barbie, Hannah, Kitchie and Lougee in an environment many of their longtime fans are more familiar with—in an outdoor venue known for standing-room-

LOUGEE Basabas, Aia de Leon, Hannah Romawac, Barbie Almalbis, Kitchie Nadal and Acel Bisa (Photo by Marvin Chua)

BUSINESS MUSIC

by

AGAW AGIMAT’S DIY REVOLUTION

Dready Culture.

ON December 26, 1993, DIY advocate Renmin Nadela launched the Pinoy band Agaw Agimat with the aim of influencing the taste of music listeners towards progressive sounds. The idea for the band sprang from Renmin’s own conviction that his Do-It-Yourself spirit points to the future of the music.

In a phone interview, Renmin told SoundStrip, “Since back in the 90’s, I have been self-trained to do everything DIY. Through the years, I have somewhat realized that it is much easier and more efficient to do the projects that I love doing by myself in the beginning then slowly get support from friends who happen to believe in these projects.”

That DIY attitude was rewarded immediately. The band’s first album titled R-15 got a Gold Record award six months after its release in 1995 under Alpha records. Two years later, their second album Patak also for Alpha Records featured the hit single “Kiss-A-Me.”

Renmin’s DIY spirit soared with Agaw Agimat’s next releases. Their third album titled Using The Things That You Don’t Own came out in 2000 under Renmin’s indie label Banana Heart and its lead single was launched on ABS-CBN’s A.S.A.P. Four years later, fourth album, Mantra, was released under Renmin’s new label Guerrilla Music and its lead single “Mr. Swatman” gained good traction on rock station NU107.

In 2016, after a nine-year hiatus, band founder Renmin Nadela decided to re-load Agaw

Agimat with new members. Year 2018 marked the band’s 25th Anniversary. Agaw Agimat re-recorded their 1995 hit single “Sabi Nila” with a 70-piece orchestra, and Kamikazee’s Jomal Linao as guest guitarist. On February 15, 2020, a Valentine’s weekend, the band released a new single and music video titled “Maghihintay” megged by multiawarded and internationally acclaimed director Kadiboy Belarmino.

On November 26, 2022, Agaw Agimat now comprised of Wendy, Renmin, Rene, and Adeng, launched a brand-new single, “Iingatan. Kita,” composed by Renmin for Wendy as a heartfelt promise to love and cherish.

Band vocalist Wendy Villanueva, who replaced original lead singer QT Paduano (now based in the US) is a female skateboarding pioneer who formed her first punk band “Dogtown” in 1987. Rene Serna is a session guitarist for the likes of Arnel Pineda, Rada of Kulay, and Orient Pearl, and a sound engineer at Spryta Recording Studio whose resume includes Ben & Ben’s recent releases.

Adeng Maron is the bassist of Laguna metal band Orb of Blood and owner/dreadlock specialist at

Wendy is a remarkable presence onstage and she has an equally amazing back history with one of the loudest, proudest music ever unleashed. She relates, “I was in Grade 5 between 198586 when I got curious about my Mohawked schoolmates. They invited me to visit their Tribe HQ in Pasay. They then lent me their TRC tapes and that was the first time I got to listen to local punk bands. Unfortunately, when the “Satanism in rock” issue exploded, my mom got scared and sent me to my aunt’s house where I stayed for months until the following school year.

“When I returned in school year 1986-87, I was addicted to skateboarding. (I do not skate anymore but I can still ride though no more tricks.) My first band “Dogtown” was formed around the same year. I can say both punk rock and skateboarding saved me and made me who I am today.”

Then there’s the main man himself Renmin Nadela who’s variously described as an artist, drummer, songwriter, writer, record producer, events

organizer, actor, director, activist, entrepreneur, and selfproclaimed carpenter. On top of all these things, he’s so wrapped up in the music scene that he’s thrown a new hat into the ring. Recently, Renmin organized Musikero (Musika - Sining at Kultura para sa Reporma), an NGO project for musicians by musicians.

He explains, “I dreamt of the project years ago, but it was only early this year that I took the first step into making it a reality upon seeing the urgency and positive impact it could bring to our music community. It is still in the works but me and my partners are slowly getting there. I’m thankful to Magsasaka Partylist for believing in my vision and helping me push my personal and professional cause.”

Musikero’s key initatives include providing medical assistance, legal support, music education, and campaign for fair pay, among others. It will be working on new projects to establish its presence and serve fellow musicians in 2023.

Watch out for “Bandang X Meets Tony Hardcore” coming to rock you in early next year.

SoundSampler

Tony M. Maghirang

How the pandemic affected our approach to reading

by ben Davies University of Portsmouth and christina Lupton University of Copenhagen

During the pandemic, reading took on new meaning. People turned to books for comfort. Some read to confront difficult issues, especially following the murder of george Floyd in 2020. Others used reading as a way to care for their children in locked-down houses.

Sales figures and lending data showed a huge spike in people buying and borrowing books. We wanted to follow the stories of real readers and our new book uses a rare combination of literary analysis and qualitative interviewing to capture these dynamics of reception.

While many commentators at the beginning of the pandemic endorsed reading as a straightforward way to relax, our readers showed that the practice morphed and took on new forms and meanings.

Based on hundreds of survey responses and hours of reader interviews from Denmark and the UK, the study makes the interpretation of literature something dynamic and ongoing. And it suggests that readers themselves are agents of meaning, even in the case of novels that seem the most stable in our culture.

Reading during the pandemic showed

how books and their meanings change. Novels that we think of as settled in their significance acquire new meaning as they are read under unfolding conditions, exposed to the vagaries of history.

In our research we show how Albert Camus’s The Plague became an unlikely hit in 2020, how the affordances of Sally Rooney’s romantic fiction seemed suddenly to apply to the lovers unable to meet, and how long novels that had intimidated pre-pandemic readers became lifelines in their heft.

Tricky reading

FoR many people, reading became more difficult during this time. Far from giving everyone uninterrupted time to attend to long novels by authors like Tolstoy, lockdown exacerbated the separations and challenges of everyday life.

Take Jane Eyre, a novel that many readers picked up during lockdown because it was on their shelves. Suddenly, this classic seemed to be a novel about a woman locked in small rooms and living through a cholera epidemic. Many also took it up under conditions that overlapped directly with the

United for Global Handwashing Day

MANILA Water Foundation went live recently on Facebook to celebrate Global Handwashing Day with its partners, P&G Safeguard, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the Department of Education (DepEd).

David Khoo, Principal Scientist of P&G’s Health and Hygiene Institute, led a short lecture on the science of handwashing and how germs can spread. He said that the main way germs infect us is through our hands, as we touch our faces unconsciously numerous times throughout the day. Thus, Khoo emphasized the importance of washing our hands for at least 20 seconds.

Prior to the Facebook Live celebration,

Safeguard kicked off the festivities face-toface with the local government unit of Quezon City. The QC LGU is one of the beneficiaries of the #SAFEWash program, which embodies Safeguard’s commitment in ensuring every school has access to handwashing facilities.

With the culmination of the construction of the 285 handwashing facilities, P&G Safeguard is on track to having all of its schools star-rated in the DepEd Wash in Schools (WinS) program in the National Capital Region.

Aldrich Gopal, Vice President for P&G Beauty Care and Brand operations, said that the threat of germs and diseases never left us, even as we move on to the new normal.

book’s scenes of homeschooling.

one respondent named Phoebe, for instance, deliberately avoided rereading Jane Eyre for these reasons. Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel of loneliness and love was, in 2020, “too creepy.” The story of Jane being locked up made her feel unsafe while she lived alone through lockdown in the confines of her own room.

Another interviewee, Alexandra, was troubled by the idea of reading Hilary Mantel’s best-seller The Mirror and the Light. “I knew that I would be saying goodbye to Sir Thomas Cromwell […] I looked at it and I thought, what if I die before I get to the end of this? It will be the most unsatisfactory experience,” she said.

Rather than sizing up the third part of Mantel’s intimate portrayal of the life of Thomas Cromwell as offering the ideal opportunity for narrative immersion, Alexandra viewed the very thickness of the book as problematic. Her intense fear of death in the pandemic and expectation of Cromwell’s literary demise converges on the length of narrative, which stretches into a future that had become harder to face.

Slipperiness of time

FoR the reader caught up in a global pandemic, a novel like The Plague, Albert Camus’s famous story of a town suffering a deadly virus, reads differently than it usually would for, say, the school student of French literature. one interviewed reader, for instance, discussed the novel’s temporal slipperiness.

Normally, of course, the very lack of measurable time would suggest the novel as an allegory—untied to a particular time, a warning of dark political forces turning up and spreading at any moment. But in 2020, when time felt like it was moving oddly The Plague’s confused sense of time felt realistic, as if it were mimicking our lived experience of a pandemic. Yet, it would be a mistake to assume all readers suddenly ditched allegory for realism or real-life correspondence.

Kirsten, a Danish woman in her 30s, said she ended up buying The Plague because she was more interested in the metaphorical portrait of the occupation (of France by the Nazis) than in what epidemics do to a society.

By following real readers, our study provides a snapshot of a phenomenal moment in modern history and shows the movement of readers between new purchases and books long kept in their collections. By exploring these varied experiences, we investigated the larger question of how the consumption of novels depends on and shapes people’s experience of non-work time, providing a specific lens through which to examine the experience of reading more generally.

Perhaps most importantly, it demonstrates the dynamic process of reading and the ways in which books change depending on where and when they are read and by whom. The Conversation

“The same germs can cause diseases that lead to school absences,” he said. “When we make regular handwashing a part of our

students’ lives, we also protect them from missing opportunities that would lead them to success in the future.”

DaviD Khoo, Principal Scientist of health and hygiene institute shows the difference of washing for 20 seconds versus five or none at all.